Chatterbox: Inkwell

Hey! I just wanted to let everyone on Cricket know that I'm writing a book review/rant blog. I wanted to put my first blog post here and ask for help with it. So here you are!

Six of Crows is the name most think of when the Grishaverse enters a book discussion. It seems to have risen in popularity above the Shadow and Bone series, a series that stars Alina Starkov, an orphan from Ravka. It’s an imaginative read and worth your time, and has a neat Russian-inspired world that wraps around you.

                                            Is it worth the read? Pros

While the books have a possibility of leaving the reader dissatisfied, I would definitely recommend it. If you’re looking for a creative world with good world building, it’s the right choice. It’s a good blend of imagination and slight cliches (for example, the Shadow Fold, which could almost be considered the antagonist of the series, being constructed of darkness when darkness is usually associated with evil), and while the world is detailed, information about the world is usually given in the right amount (for example, instead of having Alina go into a lengthy explanation of the First and Second Armies or the world around her, the author immerses you in the information slowly over time).

The fact that the Grishaverse also has an organized magic system as opposed to a disorganized jumble of powers is also a good feature of the world. You know the rules of the magic, and understand what most of the magic does. The magic also has rules to support it. For example, the Inferni are said to summon combustible elements in the air around them; they can’t just summon fire. Grisha fire requires the use of a flint and steel, which also serves to make the Grishaverse more imaginative instead of the cliche of people who can just summon fire whenever.

While the Grishaverse is imaginative, it never seems to cross that invisible line between imaginative and just plain weird. As mentioned earlier, the language in the Grishaverse is built off of the Russian language, which grounds it in the real world and gives the language a consistent feel.

The Grishaverse also makes use of Kefta, the Grisha’s elegant coats, as opposed to ballgowns. Instead of getting the usual description of the female protagonist wearing gorgeous ballgowns, you receive shorter descriptions of Grisha’s Keftas, which somehow achieve being just as beautiful as a ballgown but also an exotic difference.

Leigh Bardugo’s writing is smooth, and doesn’t send you into extensive, boring descriptions but also achieves a nice descriptive style. Its transitions are smooth, and it can inspire emotions in its readers.

                                             Is it worth the read? CONS

While the universe of the Grishaverse is quite imaginative, it also uses cliches and has issues. Those being:

1. The Shadow Fold. While the Shadow Fold is very unique to the Grishaverse, it also incorporates a cliche as old as time–that darkness should be associated with evil.
2. Love Triangle. The first book of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, Shadow and Bone itself, features a minor love triangle. A main feature of this is that the protagonist, Alina Starkov, just can’t make up her mind between the two men in her life. She seems to reject one of these men one moment, then accepts him the other.
3. Mean girl. Alina encounters a mean (but of course, gorgeous) girl who happens to have a slight flirtatious interest in one of her men. While there are good reasons for this girl to be mean, and she isn’t just doing it for random plot reasons, it’s still pretty cliche.
4. Darkness and light. The name says it all. Many novelists seem to be obsessed with the phenomenon of darkness and light, and these books are no exception.
5. Love. The love in Shadow and Bone can come across as very cliche/forced.

I’m sure I’m missing a few of the finer points of the issues with the first novel and Leigh Bardugo’s writing style, but these are a few that stood out to me. A few might appear in a later post.

Thank you for reading!